GM to close Wyoming stamping plant in 2009

Press Photo/Emily ZoladzSteve Rop, Local 730 shop chairman at the GM Stamping Plant on 36th St. in Wyoming, stands outside the factory Monday after learning the plant will close.

WYOMING -- No matter how hard they tried, 1,500 workers at GM's vast stamping plant couldn't beat the odds of a crummy U.S. economy and a mind-boggling drop in truck and SUV sales.

"It had nothing to do with the employees, the leadership, or the community," GM spokesman Chris Lee said. "It's a great operation in that regard and had nothing to do with that."

GM informed workers Monday afternoon their 72-year-old plant at 300 36th St. SW would close by December 2009.

Two factors hurt the most, he said:

WYOMING PLANT FACTS

See graphic showing what parts for which vehicles are made in Wyoming.

• Built in 1936, it is GM's first facility designed exclusively as a metal fabricating plant.
• The plant occupies 2 million square feet on 92 acres.
• More than $100 million was invested for new equipment
between 2003-06.
• The plant shipped 213,091 tons of steel in 2007, equivalent to
83,000 GMC Suburbans.

• More than 40 percent of the Wyoming plant's stamped products go on light-duty trucks and full-size SUVs, many assembled at plants slated to close.

• It's too far away from GM assembly plants, driving up shipping and related costs. GM wants its stamping plants to be next door to assembly sites, not miles away.

"We are trying to reduce pipeline inventories, shipping costs, and the container investment necessary to ship those parts," Lee said.

The news came as a stunner for employees, long known for high quality work. They had taken concessions more than once and believed they had made their plant a survivor.

"On a lot of the metrics, we were doing a lot better than other sites," said shop chairman Steve Rop who said the news took him by surprise.

But with car sales plummeting and a stock price crash last week, GM had to make drastic cuts quickly.

"This is definitely a casualty of the economy," Merkle said. In January, most forecasters expected 16 million vehicles to be built in the U.S., but that number plummeted to just 13.5 million. Next year doesn't look much better, he said.

"Graphically, it's gas prices. The trucks and SUVs are certainly being hit hard," Merkle said. "They're still going to need stamping operations. They just won't need as much."

At Woody's Press Box in Wyoming, three GM workers tried to absorb the news while bowling in their weekly league.

Terry Hug, 59, of Jenison, and Rocky Love, 61, said they would look for a buy-out while Bob Habel, 54, of Morley, hopes to transfer to another plant.

Hug has worked at the Wyoming plant for 32 years but hasn't paid off his home yet.

With 28 years at GM, Love is on the border. He hopes a buyout will give him what he needs to retire.

Habel says he would like to put in another six years. "I'm just glad most of the guys got their 30 years and retired before this. I just wish I was one of them. I have no real resentment. I put both my kids through college and my house is paid off," Habel said.

It was the plant's location that was its undoing, they said.

"We are outside the I-75 corridor and transportation costs are going up," said Habel, adding that rumors of the plant's demise were around when he started there in 1984.

"Even back then, there was talk. We've always lived on the edge." Habel said.

Wyoming City Manager Curtis Holt said GM contacted him Monday afternoon about the decision.

"We need to learn more about that. GM has been a great (high-performing) facility in Wyoming for 80-plus years," he said. "We're going to assemble a team of people and talk to GM."

Still, Holt said there's not much the city can do in the face of global trends in the auto industry and the declining interest in sport-utility vehicles.

"The (tax abatement) tools we have, we've used. We don't have any more tools," he said. "Obviously, it hurts. They're one of our largest taxpayers."

Other neighbors have different worries. Cheryl Tappin, a Wyoming resident, heard the news as she waited at the nearby credit union. She worries what it means for the area, and the Godwin Public School District.

"It's going to kill it," she said. "Especially with Godwin and all the problems they are facing."